How to Deal With Burnout in Your Library

“There is roughly a 50/50 shot that everyone you are working with is burned out.”

That’s according to Christina Holm, an associate professor of library science, who was featured in a Library Journal article by Jennifer Dixon about burnout in libraries. 

Burnout has been an open secret in libraries for years, although recently, it’s ramped up with the stress of a global pandemic and a general decline in civility. Patrons are stressed. Services are underfunded and overextended. Coworkers are irritable. Supervisors are constantly dealing with crises. Everyone’s overwhelmed. 

If you’re nodding your head in agreement, it means you’ve either seen or experienced burnout. 

Burnout is real and can feel inevitable. While there’s no easy fix, we believe—and the research seems to show—that a healthy library can mitigate some of the effects that lead to burnout or at least make them easier to deal with. 

So, let’s examine burnout, its causes, how to prevent it, and—most importantly—how managers can help lessen it. 

What is Burnout? 

Burnout is physical, mental, and emotional exhaustion caused by stress. According to the Mayo Clinic, it’s common among helping professions, like library work, that “involve a lot of giving to others.” In libraries, where staff often deal with sensitive and complex issues, burnout can happen fast. It’s sped up by compassion fatigue (giving a lot of energy to someone who is suffering) and secondary trauma stress (being exposed to someone else’s trauma). I’ve never seen a formal study, but experience leads me to believe that because library workers see such a wide swath of society with so many different backgrounds, experiences, and needs, they see a wider range of stress and trauma. 

Whether you’re in a small rural or large urban library, a sole employee or part of a big team, burnout can happen to anyone. According to Dixon, it “has been identified as an issue among staff at all library types, and impacts library workers regardless of their official title and duties.” 

While burnout can happen fast, it often develops over a long period, which means there’s no simple fix. And the cost is real. People experiencing burnout may have:

• Physical problems like headaches or poor sleep
• Trouble focusing at work
• Shorter tempers and negative or cynical feelings toward work

Some people start to question the value of their work, which can be especially hard for library staff, who often enter this field because they want to serve their communities. Eventually, they may leave their library or the profession due to on-the-job trauma and burnout. 

Common Causes of Burnout in Libraries

Unfortunately, one of the main causes of burnout in libraries is…working in a library. As members of a “helping profession,” library workers see patrons in various states of stress and trauma. From natural disasters to homelessness to addiction, library staff see it all—sometimes all in the same day. Here are a few common causes of trauma and burnout. 

• Violent and aggressive behavior. The 2022 Urban Libraries Unite Trauma Study found that 68.5% of respondents have experienced violent or aggressive behavior from patrons. An astonishing 22% have experienced the same from coworkers. The University of Washington’s Information School study on Trauma in the Library found that verbal abuse and physical assault are the most common sources of trauma. And incidents have only increased in recent years.
  
  
• Social issues and mission creep. Fraying civility, financial stress, and a weakened social safety net have all contributed to patron stress. As other local and state services shrink, the library is left to fill the gap, resulting in mission creep. Dixon points out, “There are gaps in public services that libraries are expected to fill for their communities, but library workers may not have the capacity to do so.” As a result, “libraries are left to shoulder these responsibilities without backup.”
  
  
• Emotional labor. Shouldering these responsibilities and taking on patron trauma and stress is part of the problem of emotional labor, or putting other people’s feelings and needs ahead of your own. Women and women of color often take on or are handed the work of emotional labor, and, as a highly feminized profession, librarianship is rife with it. Sarah Houghton says that staff experience “pure exhaustion—not from being overscheduled, [but] from the sheer amount of diverse emotional labor that [they] are being asked to perform day after day, without training or education in the areas that were new to them.” It’s no surprise that Christina Holm’s research found that “there are higher incidences of burnout among female respondents, particularly those between ages 35 and 44.”
  
  
• Lack of administrative support. Most people probably don’t think of libraries as toxic workplaces, but unfortunately, they can be. Staff report everything from management-led harassment to being discouraged from filling out incident reports or using employee resource groups. Both the Urban Library Trauma Study and the Trauma in the Library study point to a lack of support from management, with the ULTS noting that “management and administration exacerbate trauma in work culture and organizational norms.” A general theme is that “it seems that frontline staff and administration aren’t having the same conversation” when it comes to trauma in the library. 
  
  
• Vocational awe. All of the challenges listed so far are made infinitely more complex because of vocational awe, which Fobazi Ettarh defines as “a set of ideas, values, and assumptions librarians have about themselves and the profession that result in beliefs that libraries as institutions are inherently good and sacred, and therefore beyond critique.” In short, we hold libraries in such regard that even suggesting that the work can lead to trauma and burnout makes it hard to set boundaries that could lessen the chances of becoming burned out. 

Useful Training Topics 

Can training fix burnout? No. But knowing what to look for and how to deal with it can reduce some stress. At Niche Academy, we’ve spent a lot of time creating tutorials and hosting webinars that help learners recognize and manage burnout and related issues. Here are a few of my favorites. 

• De-escalation series. A major cause of library burnout is violent or aggressive behavior from patrons. This series covers how to recognize and respond to tense situations so you’re prepared. Because not all situations can or should be de-escalated by library staff, we also cover when to get help. A follow-up tutorial provides low-stakes practice so staff can build skills and gain confidence before they work with patrons.
  
  
• Burnout basics. This tutorial covers how secondary trauma stress and compassion fatigue lead to burnout. If you’re a manager wondering what burnout looks like, this tutorial is for you. We help you recognize the signs so you can implement strategies to help staff who are experiencing burnout. 
  
  
• Trauma-informed services. Dealing with patron trauma can lead to secondary trauma. Secondary trauma in staff can affect the entire culture of the library, and quickly lead to fear, anger, cynicism, or disengagement. This tutorial helps staff recognize and respond to trauma so they can manage their response before it leads to burnout. 
  
  
• Professional development webinars. If you’re not a Niche Academy subscriber yet, we still have something for you. Our webinar series features librarians from around the country sharing their research and experience. Some of our past topics include:
  
  • Moving past burnout to enjoy program planning again
  • Preparing for and dealing with opioid use in libraries
  • Addressing community and family homelessness
  • Building partnerships for better community impact
  • Offering trauma-informed services and strategies for patrons and staff
  • Working with difficult patrons and co-workers
  • Partnering with social workers to benefit patrons and staff

Moving Past Self-Care

When I was researching this post, most of the solutions for burnout centered around self-care. And while I’m a huge fan of meditation, yoga, exercise, and relaxation, I agree with Kelley Jenson, who says, “You can’t self-care your way out of systemic issues.” 

The American Psychological Association notes, “We need to reframe the basic question from who is burning out to why they are burning out. It is not enough to simply focus on the worker who is having a problem—there must be a recognition of the surrounding job conditions that are the sources of the problem.”

We spend a lot of time at Niche Academy thinking about leadership development and organizational culture. Leaders drive organizational health by setting examples and establishing boundaries. Sarah Houghton couldn’t be clearer: “One hundred percent of the responsibility [for combating burnout] sits with the employer.” To that end, here are some ways to build better managers: 

• Educate yourself. Start by learning what burnout looks like. When you recognize the signs, you can help staff address them on a personal level and consider ways you can make change on an organizational level. 
  
  
• Talk about burnout. Once you know what burnout looks like, talk openly with staff about it. Acknowledge that library work is difficult and burnout is real. Normalize conversations so staff feel safer talking with you. 
  
  
• Know your environment. Managers may have an idea that people are overwhelmed, but they may not be certain. Anonymous surveys can give you a quick snapshot of your culture. Just be sure you act on the results to build trust with staff. 
  
  
• Offer control and resources. Flexible schedules, job sharing, hybrid work, and other creative job solutions can help people find a better work-life balance—which can make them more likely to stay at your library and in the profession. 
  
  
• Ditch “doing more with less”. My coworkers and I used to joke that we were experts at spinning straw into gold. But working in a low-resource environment, or where everything is treated like a priority, is a recipe for burnout. Give staff what they need to do their jobs, and deprioritize things if you don’t have the resources.
  
  
• Set an example. Do your part by showing what work-life balance looks like. Use your time off, don’t work after-hours, and make sure staff do the same. Help them understand their benefits, including mental health benefits and employee resource groups, and talk frequently about how to use these resources. Even better—if you use them yourself, share your story. 
  
  
• Build resilience. Like advice about burnout, advice about resilience often takes a personalized approach. But, we believe resilience is about organizational culture. Emily Weaks agrees, calling resilience an “organizational feature” and noting that it starts with hiring enough people to do the work at hand. Know what you need, communicate it accurately, and build redundancy into the library to lessen burnout. 
  
  
• Turn inwards. Many libraries hire or provide space for social workers who assist patrons in navigating complex systems. If you’re lucky enough to have a social worker on staff, make sure they’re also supporting library workers. Checking in with staff to address compassion fatigue and secondary trauma early can slow down the rate of burnout.  

Improve Workplace Wellness Today

It’s never too late to start improving your organization to address burnout. Our goal is to help people shape and build better workplace cultures. And because we know library workers, managers, and administrators don’t have a lot of time, we’ve made it easy with tutorials, webinars, and training programs. 

If you’re a Niche Academy subscriber, check out the Marketplace for hundreds of tutorials made for you, your staff, and your patrons. If you’re not a subscriber, you can test the waters with our Employee Wellbeing Training Program.

We can’t solve burnout for you, but we can support you. Reach out today to see how. 

References

2022 Urban Libraries Trauma Study Final Report.

Caron, C. (October 21, 2024). Librarians face a Crisis of Violence and Abuse. New York Times.

Dixon, J.A. (March 7, 2022). Feeling the Burnout. Library Journal. 

Ettarh, F. (January 10, 2018). Vocational Awe and Librarianship: The Lies We Tell Ourselves. In the Library with the Lead Pipe. 

Ewen, L. (June 1, 2022). Quitting Time. American Libraries

Hughes, K. (August 26, 2024). Navigating Workplace Burnout. FYI Podcast.

Job Burnout: How to Spot it and Take Action. Mayo Clinic. 

Reese, H. (April 5, 2023). What is Emotional Labor, and Why Does it Matter? Greater Good Magazine. 

Trauma in the Library. Information School. University of Washington.

Weak, E. (November 1, 2024). Redefining Resilience. American Libraries.